U.S.-Israeli delegation lands in Abu Dhabi on historic visit 

U.S.-Israeli delegation lands in Abu Dhabi on historic visit 

Part of: GS-Prelims and GS-II – International relations

In News:

• A U.S.-Israeli delegation arrived recently in Abu Dhabi on the historic first commercial flight from Tel Aviv, Israel. 
• The visit marked the normalisation of ties between Israel and the UAE.
• Objective of the visit: To boost cooperation in areas including aviation, tourism, trade, health, energy and security.

Important value additions 

• Israel’s Health Ministry updated its list of “green countries” with low COVID-19 infection rates to include the UAE and eight other countries.
• This means that Israeli officials and journalists travelling to Abu Dhabi would be exempted from 14-day quarantine upon return.
• The UAE repealed a 1972 law which earlier boycotted Israel. 
• Now, it will be permissible to enter, exchange or possess Israeli goods and products of all kinds in the UAE and trade in them. 

Do you know? 

• The UAE is the first Gulf country and only the third Arab nation to establish relations with Israel.
• Egypt made peace with its former battlefield enemy in 1979. 
• Jordan followed in 1994. 
• The UAE has never fought a war with Israel.